


Republic University Lacrosse

by frayedknot



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Lacrosse, Midfield Korra, im bad with tags but its a lacrosse au, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:14:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26575852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frayedknot/pseuds/frayedknot
Summary: Korra, Kuvira, and Opal, the co-captains of Republic University's lacrosse team, face a big game on Friday. The Avatar, the MVP of the team, is being named then, too. Pressure is high, coming from everywhere. From Coach Beifong, to the school's newspaper interviewer Wu, to the calc test Korra is sure she's going to bomb.
Relationships: Korra/Asami Sato
Kudos: 50





	Republic University Lacrosse

**Author's Note:**

> I saw this tiktok and went "I PLAY LACROSSE AND THATS A KORRA COSPLAYER WITH A LACROSSE STICK IM WRITING THE AU NOW"  
> https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMJDbf31s/  
> If you aren't too sure of what the different things mentioned in this fic are, here is the wiki link to lacrosse:  
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_lacrosse

“Cap! You ready?” Opal booms, clapping Korra on the back. She grins, adjusting her goggles.

“Ready as ever, Shark,” Korra laughs when she whines at the nickname. She adjusts her lacrosse bag so it rests comfortably against her back. Bolin sprints to the pair, jumping to Korra.

“Oh captain my captain!” Bolin laughs and hugs both of them, giving a kiss on the cheek to Opal. “Korra, did you know you beat Fireside U’s best shot for best scorer in the league?”

“Not good enough,” Korra sighs, rubbing her forehead.

“Korra, don’t whine. You’re the best in the league,” a new voice adds. Korra turns around. Kuvira, one of the co-captains. 

“But the save rate of the goalie for Fireside U is 67.” Korra sighs. “You’re our best offender and I’m the best mid, but 67%!”

“Kor, relax. It’ll be fine. We’ll beat them!” Bolin grins, bouncing in place. He holds out the stats he marked down for the captains to look at later. 

“Captains, come here,” Coach Beifong demands. Korra waves to the couple before walking over to see Lin with Kuvira, and the defensive captain and goalie, Jinora.

“Yes, Coach?” Kuvira asks Beifong.

“I need you three to keep your head in the game. The players, they look up to you. Even though you are captains, I will not be afraid to make you benchwarmers.” Beifong scrutinizes the junior and seniors, giving them a hard look. “And I will not be favoring you, Beifong, for being my niece.”

“Understood, Coach,” Kuvira says as Korra and Jinora nod.

“Dismissed.” Beifong turns and marches away, leaving the team to do their final cheer before packing up.

“Good practice guys,” Korra encourages the team.

“But we need to practice harder,” Kuvira adds.

“And if we listen to Kuvira, we’ll be the well-oiled machine I know we can be,” Jinora adds encouragement.

It’s how the three have worked since they got elected captain. Korra and Jinora encourage, while Kuvira delivers the bad news. It works for the team. Kuvira gets to tell people what they need to improve on and later comment if they did improve, while Korra and Jinora get to uplift the team as a whole.

Kuvira lists off everything they need to work on, and the co-captains are no exception.

“Okay, Korra, you need to work on getting your bounce shots into the corners.” Kuvira turns to Jinora. “Jin, your top left spot is weak, that’s where they’ll shoot.”

“And you need to work on your fake shots,” Korra tells Kuvira. The pair nod to each other. That’s also how they work- Kuvira needs to improve, too.

“Ready ready ready, Avatars on three, one, two, three-”

“AVATARS!”

“Alright, freshmen, take the goals off of the fields, track and field is practicing soon.” Korra orders, pointing at the gaggle of freshmen who start to groan.

“Save it for next year,” Kuvira complains. “We all had to do it as freshmen.”

“Korra, Kuvira, Jinora, you’re needed in the student center in 20,” Beifong shouts. “The newspaper committee wants to do an exposé on the sports captains and club presidents this year in their newest paper.”

“Enough time to shower and sprint over,” Korra snorts. “How generous.”

Kuvira laughs. “Race you two to the good shower.”

Korra wins, but just barely. Even though Jinora’s the goalie and Kuvira stays on the offensive side of the field, they all know how to run. Courtesy of Beifong’s harsh conditioning, of course. Being from the Southern Water Tribe, Korra craves cold. While Republic City isn’t nearly as hot as other places, namely the Fire Nation, it’s much hotter than she was used to, and so she showers in ice cold water. It’s a win-win for her, really. It soothes her aching muscles where she was hit in practice, cools her down from her sweaty mess, and she feels like she’s home again. Even if it is only for the 7 minutes it takes her to shower. Her hands shake slightly when she washes the soap over her leg and back when the water cools even more.

She dries herself quickly, pulling on her traditional Water Tribe clothing- a blue tank top, pants, and her usual bindings. They match her eyes nicely, if she’s allowed to compliment herself. Kuvira does the same, pulling on a casual green tee and her grey and green pants. Jinora takes a second longer, letting the cold water ease her aching muscles.

The three start a jog to the student center. Kuvira checks her walk and ups the pace. “We’re going to be late if we don’t hurry.”

They weave between slow students, rushing to the student center to make the exposé. Korra yanks on her lanyard that holds her ID out of her pocket to let them into the building. She slides to a halt and lets the pair in.

“Winters. Beifong. Jinora. How nice of you to finally show,” a stern voice scolds them. Professor Tashi, a language teacher. Korra and Kuvira bow slightly, snorting at how Jinora was addressed by her first name. Perks of having a professor father, they suppose.

“We apologize, we just found out at the end of practice and had to shower,” Korra looks Professor Tashi in the eye. “We didn’t think smelling like sweat would be acceptable.”

Tashi laughs. “Girls, I was just teasing you. Right now, the basketball boys are being interviewed, then the mechanics club is. After them, it will be you. We will likely be getting your pictures.”

Kuvira nods. “Thank you, professor.”

Korra turns to Jinora. “Man, what kinda questions are there going to be? You can be the talker.”

Jinora laughs. “Chill, captain. You inspire our team just fine, I don’t think you need to worry. After all- oof!”

Korra glares at the basketball boy that shoved Kuvira aside. He sticks his tongue out. “Dykes.”

Kuvira rolls her eyes. “I guess that means we’re next to be interviewed.”

Korra nods and turns to where she hears questions coming from and chokes on her own spit.

“Korra? You okay?”

“Uh yeah that super hot chick that was in my English class this semester? She’s super hot and super smart.” Korra points to a tall girl in a black suit. She gulps and turns back to the other captains. “The mechanics club only accepts 15 members per year. And the president has to be crazy smart, like top of the class smart.”

Kuvira whistles, punching the back of Korra’s shoulder. “You know how to pick ‘em, that's for sure.”

Korra snorts. “You’re just saying that because we dated for a month.”

“Best month of sex, ever,” Kuvira teases, ruffling the shorter girl’s hair to tease her. “Man, you get cute when you’re flustered.”

Korra punches back, laughing loudly. “Fuck you.”

“I did,” Kuvira smirks. Korra just rolls her eyes and turns back to the black haired girl. Emerald eyes meet blue and Korra blushes profusely. Korra quickly looks away to see Jinora, doubled over and laughing.

“Spirits, Jinora, you’re worse than Ikki is.”

Jinora gasps. “Take that back!”

Korra sticks her tongue out at the goalie. “Nah, I don’t think I will.”

“Alright Asami, we just need to take a picture of you.”

Asami poses for the picture, very elegantly if Korra has anything to say about it, and passes by the lacrosse players. “Have fun.”

“Alright ladies, Wu here. You both are very pretty, are any of you open for dinner tonight?”

His flirtatious behavior makes both girls recoil. 

“Uh… no,” Korra supplies for both of them. “We are both of the lady loving kind. And the kid is dating someone.”

Korra’s bi, but Wu doesn’t need to know that. She laughs at Jinora’s indignant “Hey!”

“Ah I see! So anything going on between you two?”

Kuvira chokes at this. “No. Our personalities are too similar.”

“Let’s get a picture first, since my camera is out!” Wu holds up his camera and snaps a picture of the two captains with their arms around each other, each holding on to their stick. “Gorgeous, ladies. How would you feel about a foursome?”

Kuvira coughs, blushing. Korra menacingly takes a step forward.

“So how do you feel about your big game coming up?” Wu, wisely, changes the subject at the look of Korra’s death glare.

“I don’t want to jinx anything so I don’t really want to comment on that,” Kuvira supplies, a smirk settling on her face when Wu backs up.

“But the team is the best it’s ever been,” Korra supplements Kuvira’s comment. “Kuvira here has made improvements beyond measurable. And Jinora here has a 64 percent save rate, and I’m sure she’ll only get better.”’

“And don’t forget Korra has been named Best Player in the league!” Jinora exclaims, bouncing on her feet.

“And our team has melded almost perfectly together. The only way it could get more perfect is if we could get a second coach to coach defense. Coach Beifong is definitely an offensive coach, and she’s been trying since before I was on the team to get a second coach.” Korra finalizes the comment. Wu nods and looks back at Kuvira.

“This is your and Korra’s senior year here, correct?” Wu scribbles down something as Kuvira nods a yes. “Are you worried about what the team will be without you?”

“Definitely not,” Kuvira laughs. “Teammates come and go. And, I trust Jinora. We’ve known each other since she was a freshman in high school. I have nothing but absolute faith that she will lead the team well next year.”

“Ah, speaking of high school,” Wu adjusts his tie around his neck. “Korra, you came from the Southern Water Tribe, correct? How would you say playing down there is different than here?”

“It isn’t,” Korra laughs. “We had to travel overseas to play other lacrosse teams since the Southern Water Tribe isn’t known for being as large as, say, the Earth Kingdom, or even Republic City.”

“Is it a shock, being here? After all, seeing someone who is clearly fully Southern still is a shock to many.”

Korra rolls her eyes and doesn’t answer. Kuvira steps in.

“No one’s been rude about it on the team, if that’s what you’re implying.”

“No, no, not at all.” Wu grins nervously. “So, this game they’re naming the Avatar. What does that mean?”

“The Avatar is basically the MVP of the team,” Jinora grins. “The player we couldn’t win without.”

“Well, you guys just said you’re confident in the entire team! Isn’t that counterintuitive?”

Korra groans. “Every team has their glue, Wu. Doesn’t matter on what side of the field they’re on, someone is that glue, and it’s different every year.”

“Anywho, I best be moving on now, I have the basketball girls to be talking to now.” Wu walks away quickly, blush evident on his face.

Korra grumbles as he quickly walks away. “That was a little ridiculous.”

“You could say that again,” Jinora grumbles. “Hey, Kor, are your parents coming up for the big game? Since it’s the night someone’s being named Avatar and you’ve got a chance.”

“They said they’ll try, but my dad and mom are pretty busy with all the Chief stuff, y’know? Besides, it’s no big deal, they get free access to recordings.” Korra shrugs. “It doesn’t bother me all that much, they’ll be around for life but lacrosse is kinda over this year for me. Plus, I bet it’ll go to Kuvira.”

“Alright I am loving this little chat session, but our lacrosse bags are having us stick out like a sore thumb,” Kuvira cuts in. “Shall we head back to the apartment?”

The now considerably slower trek to their apartment is not without hitches.

“Are you ready for the calc exam?” Kuvira turns to Korra.

“Fuck no,” she hisses out. “I mean it’s so fucked that I have to do calc anyways, since they said I had enough credits from high school, so really I shouldn’t have to be doing it, but I’m a sports gay! A history gay! Not a math gay! I don’t know the difference between a derivative and an integral and that was taught, like, a month ago?”

“Dear god, you’re a mess,” Jinora laughs.

“And it’s not like I can ask for help because of our crazy filled lacrosse schedule, it’s always drills upon practices upon conditioning, I have like only an hour a day to do homework and it’s at 11 P.M. and who would want to tutor that late?”

“I would,” a new voice cuts in. The three stop and turn.

“A-Asami,” Korra squeaks out. “Hey.”

Asami laughs. “I’m always up at 11, so if you need a tutor in calculus, I’m your gal. Plus, calculus is super easy.”

Korra lets out an indignant huff. “So not true. I, uh, can’t really pay you, but, uh, I could get you a free ticket to the rest of our games! I don’t know if you even like lacrosse but I’m pretty much broke and I get three free tickets to the games. You might have to sit by my parents but that’s not certain.”

Asami laughs. “Never seen lacrosse, but why not? It’s a deal, Korra.”

Asami grabs Korra’s hand and writes her number.

“We start tomorrow. Text me your address!”

Korra just grins.

“Spirits, Korra, you have it bad for this girl and you’ve barely talked.” Kuvira starts laughing at the shorter girl.

“Oh shut the fuck up, Kuvira.”

The week flew by between soul-crushing study sessions and greuling practices, but finally Friday showed up, with the promise of nearly full stands by Coach Beifong.

Jinora called for the circle before either Korra or Kuvira were able to.

“We’ve been working our asses off in practice,” Jinora starts. “I’ve been watching them. Korra, watch out for 13, she seems to play dirty.”

Korra nods. “Jinora, you’ve got this. They shoot top left, but you’ve been working on that spot. If worse comes to worse, use your head.”

The team chuckles at that slightly, but it’s muted.

“Kuvira,” Korra adds, “I need you to be open from the start. They were practicing face-offs, and their starter likes to chuck it as far as she can.”

Kuvira nods. “I’ll jog back and forth to try to lose the girl on me.”

“Defense,” Korra takes over again. “Diamond formation, heard? Eska, you’re on top, Opal, the crease. Protect Jinora. Don’t forget Drop and Switch, okay?”

“Offense, don’t forget to spread out. We don’t want to crowd the 12, and we can’t risk any major turnovers.” Kuvira commands her team, and they jokingly salute.

“Yes, Great Uniter!”

“And mids, we need to win those 50/50 balls, okay? They’re fast, that’s what they’ve got going for them. Their passes are slow, at best, so they’ll try to sprint down the field. If we get those 50/50 balls, we don’t need to worry about stopping them.”

“Avatars on three,” Jinora puts her hand in first when the buzzer commands attention.

“One, two, three, Avatars!”

The team jogs out and takes their place. Korra crouches in the circle, readying for the whistle. Once it does, the girl she’s facing off pushes the ball back to Avatar’s defensive side. One of Korra’s midfield Izumi is quick, though, and she sprints around to snag it quickly. She throws to Kuvira, who runs to the x position behind goal to shag off defenders and allow mids to get to the goal.

The field is littered with calls of “Ball! Ball!” and “Cutter!” as they run through a play. Kuvira and Izumi keep the ball behind the goal, though, neither seeing an open girl to take a shot.

Korra glances at Ikki, a sophomore offender. A perfect pick, she decides. She blocks Ikki’s defender and quickly rolls away. In rapid fire, Kuvira tosses to Ikki, who tosses to a now-open Korra, who fires into the goal.

“Goal for the Avatars by number 43, Korra Winters! Assists by Kuvira Beifong, 22, and Izumi Sapphire, 18!”

Korra jumps and whoops.

The rest of the half doesn’t go as smoothly, for either team. It’s a constant back and forth, neither team getting a goal.

“Beifong looks pissed,” Kuvira murmurs to Korra as they jog back.

“Izumi, you’re slacking,” Beifong snaps. The girl drops her head. “You have five minutes to prove you’re in it, or you’re off the field. Korra, get lower on the face-off, maybe you can get the ball to go straight up. Your jump might save this.”

Korra nods and softly taps Izumi, giving her a quick nod. 

it says.

The buzzer signifies the start of the second half, and Kuvira leads the cheer. Korra crouches lower than usual, and Beifong was right. It shoots straight up and Korra leaps. The ball lands safely in her net and she sprints, throwing it to Izumi, who tosses it to Ikki, who passes to Kuvira, and back to Korra. Korra cuts fast, leaving the goal open. She shoots, the ball going right between the goalie’s legs. Kuvira jumps on Korra’s back.

“Winters!” she shouts, then leans in to whisper. “13, the one Jinora warned about, is getting angry. Watch out.”

Korra simply nods and takes her place, noticing 13 replacing another girl as middie.

This toss doesn’t go as well, the other girl pushing hard into Korra’s stick, throwing her off.

It’s another back and forth, with Jinora saving more than once and the other goalie saving more than once, before 13 shoves Korra before she can sprint to the middle when Jinora screams for crash.

Korra rolls, recovering, but the other team gets a goal.

“Jinora, you’re doing good,” Korra pats Jinora’s helmet. “Just be wary of the top left, okay? Just like we practiced. You’ll save the next one.”

The next 20 minutes blur together as both teams battle it out. Korra gains another goal and Kuvira snagging three. Izumi manages two as well, both times getting assists by Kuvira. But the other team matches pace until they’re tied.

Beifong calls a time out.

“We have to make this next shot, or we could be ruined,” Beifong growls. “There’s only five minutes left. Korra, you need to get this face-off.”

Korra nods.

They take their place. Everything goes in slow-mo for Korra.

Face-off. She passes to Ikki. Ikki passes to Izumi. Izumi makes a shot, and it bounces off the goalpost. Korra feels herself growl as she battles 13 for the rebound, sprinting behind the goal when she gets it. She passes to Kuvira, jogging her way back to the top. Kuvira passes to Izumi again, who passes instead to Ikki. Ikki tries to take another shot, but is forced out of the eight meters by a defender, and she passes back to Kuvira.

“Mixer!” Kuvira calls, and everyone sprints to the opposite side of where they normally are, Korra and Kuvira the only ones who remain in place.

A glance at the clock.

30 seconds left.

Korra uses the confusion as a cover and sprints into the eight meters. Kuvira passes, Korra snagging the ball and sliding under a stick.

She shoots.

It bounces.

It’s in.

They win.

Korra whoops again, feeling the team pile into each other. Beifong calls them back to the benches.

“The last 45 seconds was the best I have ever seen you guys play,” Beifong acknowledges.

“She looks cheerful for once,” Opal snorts.

“Opal, I will call Su,” Beifong glares, but her eyes betray her. “Naming of the Avatar will be held in ten minutes, say hello to the people who came that you know. But be in your line in promptly nine minutes.”

Kuvira mockingly salutes, narrowly avoiding a slap to the head by the coach.

Korra looks at the assigned seating given to those with the free tickets, beaming when she sees Asami. She quickly climbs the bricks leading to the bleachers, hopping the wiring quickly.

“You came! I didn’t know if you would!”

“Of course I came,” Asami laughs. “I had to see you in action, didn’t I? Oh, and regarding your other two tickets.”

“Korra, you did so well!” a voice booms, and Korra turns.

“Dad! Mom!” Korra sprints to her parents, giving them a hug. “You made it!”

“We couldn’t miss your big game,” Senna smiles. “Plus, we got to talk to Asami. You better ask her out, Korra, she’s such a good influence on you! She said you passed the exam!”

Korra blushes, hoping Asami didn’t hear her mother.

“Uh, they’re naming the Avatar soon, I’ve gotta get back,” Korra backs up, blushing even more at her father’s hearty laugh. He pulls Korra into another hug before letting her go.

Korra jogs back to Asami.

“What, no hug for me?” Asami teases.

“I’m sorry! I just sweat, hardcore.”

“Like I care?” Asami grabs Korra and pulls her into a hug. “Oh, and your mom is totally right, by the way. Now go get back to your team, I’m certain you’re the Avatar this year.”

Korra grins. “We’re talking more about this later, Sato.”

“Deal.”

Asami is right, of course. She is named Avatar.


End file.
